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Overview

Ethereum is the second largest blockchain to Bitcoin.  While Bitcion is mainly a digital currency, Ethereum is a decentralized ecosystem that natively supports smart contracts (e.g. hold funds in escrow until service delivered), decentralized applications (e.g. lending, exchanges, gaming), and tokenization (e.g. tokenize a property and sell 1%)​

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Key stats

  • Largest daily settlement volume (10-20B/day)

  • Most daily active users (with Layer 2s)

  • Largest number of developers

  • Largest number of dApps

  • Largest NFT marketplace (Opensea)

  • 60% of all DeFi applications (Uniswap, Aave)

  • Token standards (~50% of top 100 cryptos are ERC-20 built on Ethereum)

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ETHEREUM

First smart contract blockchain

Founders

Vitalik Buterin

  • Invented the first smart contract blockchain.  Wrote the white paper at age 19

  • Co-founded Bitcoin Magazine

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Other founders

  • Charles Hoskinson -- founder of Cardano

  • Gavin Wood -- founder of Polkadot​

  • Joseph Lubin -- founder of ConsenSys, previous VP of Technology at Goldman Sachs

  •  Anthony Di Iorio -- founder of Decentral​

Partnerships

Blackrock -- world's largest asset manager ($10T AUM)

  • Launched an Ethereum ETF that trades on the NYSE

  • CEO Larry Fink believes all stocks, bonds, and other real-world assets will be tokenized as it allows for instantaneous settlement, and makes ownership secure and transparent: "I see value in having an Ethereum ETF. These ETFs are stepping stones towards tokenization, and I believe that's where we're headed"

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Microsoft

  •  Integrated Ethereum into its Azure Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) platform, allowing developers to deploy Ethereum nodes and develop decentralized applications (dApps)

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JPMorgan Chase

  • JPMorgan developed its Quorum blockchain based on Ethereum. Quorum is a permissioned version of Ethereum designed for enterprises, particularly financial institutions

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Visa

  • Visa has been exploring Ethereum-based solutions for digital currency payments. They tested USDC (a stablecoin) on Ethereum for settlement purposes

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European Investment Bank (EIB)

  • The EIB issued €100 million in digital bonds on Ethereum in 2021, demonstrating the platform's ability to handle institutional-grade transactions

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Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  • AWS supports Ethereum as part of its Amazon Managed Blockchain, allowing customers to set up Ethereum nodes and join the network

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Mastercard

  • Mastercard is actively exploring Ethereum-based payment and settlement solutions. They are also developing a platform that incorporates Ethereum-based stablecoins

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Samsung

  • Samsung has been exploring Ethereum for various blockchain use cases, including developing Ethereum-based dApps and integrating Ethereum wallets into its smartphones

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Deloitte

  • Deloitte has worked with Ethereum to explore blockchain-based solutions for supply chain management, auditing, and other enterprise uses

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Société Générale -- one of France’s largest multinational investment banks

  • Societe Generale issued a €100 million bond on Ethereum in 2019, and they continue to explore digital securities issuance on the Ethereum blockchain.

Overview

Chainlink is a decentralized network that connects smart contracts (which are self-executing contracts on blockchain) to real-world data, events, and systems outside the blockchain (e.g. a decentralized borrowing/lending platform would need access to the real-time price of the USD and Bitcoin. The Chainlink network enabled the creation of the DeFi space and grew to become the industry standard oracle solution for all of Web3.​

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Key stats

  • Chainlink has enabled over $9T in transaction value

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Chainlink

Largest Blockchain Oracle - connecting real world data to the blockchain

Founders

Vitalik Buterin

  • Invented the first smart contract blockchain.  Wrote the white paper at age 19

  • Co-founded Bitcoin Magazine

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Other founders

  • Charles Hoskinson -- founder of Cardano

  • Gavin Wood -- founder of Polkadot​

  • Joseph Lubin -- founder of ConsenSys, previous VP of Technology at Goldman Sachs

  •  Anthony Di Iorio -- founder of Decentral​

Partnerships

Society for Worldwide Interbank Telecomunication (SWIFT) -- global messaging network connecting over 11,000 banks

  • Chainlink is working with Swift to enable secure and efficient cross-chain communication for financial transactions. Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) was used in a Swift-led experiment to connect multiple blockchains. This initiative demonstrated how existing Swift infrastructure, combined with Chainlink, can allow seamless movement of tokenized assets across both public and private blockchains. This project aims to reduce operational hurdles and costs, paving the way for secure and scalable tokenized asset transfers​.

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The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) -- world’s largest securities settlement system

  • The DTCC which processes over $2 quadrillion in transactions annually  issued "BondTokens" using Chainlink’s CCIP, allowing secure distribution across blockchains. This partnership explores how blockchain can improve settlement systems and streamline financial operations​.

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Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) -- $1T  AUM

  • ANZ used Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) to enable secure cross-chain transfers of tokenized assets, including ANZ-issued stablecoins. A key aspect of this project was settling transactions involving nature-based assets, such as carbon credits or renewable energy investments, allowing ANZ’s clients to purchase and trade these assets across multiple blockchains through a simple, unified interface.

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